Scottish Parliament

Written Answers

Monday 20 December 1999

Scottish Executive

Children

Fiona McLeod (West of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it intends to ensure that Part V of the Police Act 1997 covers all football clubs which are members of or are affiliated to the Scottish Football Association and, in particular, to ensure that such football clubs must obtain enhanced criminal record certificates for all Directors, committee members, employees and volunteers who have contact with children and young people.

Mr Jim Wallace: Under Part V of the Police Act 1997, enhanced criminal record certificates will be available for those involved in regularly caring for, training, supervising or being in sole charge of children. The checks are not mandatory and it will it be for organisations to decide when to require a criminal record check. Planning for implementation of Part V is currently underway and a user group has been set up to help ensure the service meets the needs of the users. Guidance on the appropriate use of certificates will be prepared with input from the user group, and  sportscotland represents sports interests on that group.

Culture

Pauline McNeill (Glasgow Kelvin) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what the remit of the Glasgow Film fund is.

Rhona Brankin: The business of Glasgow Film Fund Limited (GFF) is to make commercial equity or loan investments in films made by Glasgow-based companies or by companies using Glasgow as a substantive production location.

Culture

Pauline McNeill (Glasgow Kelvin) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what assistance it currently gives to the Scottish film industry, and whether there are any plans for future funding.

Rhona Brankin: The Scottish Executive is providing £2.225 million in 1999-2000 to Scottish Screen to carry out a range of activities which are of assistance to the Scottish film industry. In addition, the Scottish Enterprise Network and Highlands and Islands Enterprise provide assistance, in particular through the local film offices and company development activities. Scottish Screen’s grant is to be increased by £200,000 in 2000-01.

Culture

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will state for the financial year 1997-98 the amount of money spent as a proportion of the total budget of the Scottish Arts Council on (a) opera, (b) traditional Scottish music, (c) jazz and (d) ballet.

Rhona Brankin: The grant in aid received by the Scottish Arts Council in 1997-98 amounted to £27,313,000. From this the allocations were:

  

 

£000

  

%

  



a) opera

  

6,074

  

22.23

  



b) traditional Scottish music

  

177

  

0.65

  



c) jazz

  

223

  

0.82

  



d) ballet

  

2,453

  

8.98

Family Mediation

Pauline McNeill (Glasgow Kelvin) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what importance it attaches to the family mediation service, and what funding it currently gives to it.

Mr Jim Wallace: The Scottish Executive places great importance on the work of organisations offering family mediation in Scotland. Grants for the current financial year are detailed in the table below.

  


Family Mediation – Borders

  

£12,058

  



Family Mediation – Central

  

£66,396

  



Family Mediation - Dumfries & 

  Galloway

  

£23,855

  



Family Mediation – Grampian

  

£24,236

  



Family Mediation – Highland

  

£24,356

  



Family Mediation – Lothian

  

£17,510

  



Family Mediation – Tayside

  

£38,928

  



Family Mediation – West

  

£22,660

  



Family Mediation - Western Isles

  

£27,110

  



Family Mediation Scotland

  

£62,830

  



Total

  

£319,939

Fisheries

Karen Whitefield (Airdrie and Shotts) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will report on the outcome of the December European Community Fisheries Council meeting.

Mr John Home Robertson: I attended the Fisheries Council meeting on 16 December along with my UK Ministerial colleagues, Elliot Morley, MAFF, and Brid Rodgers, Northern Ireland Executive Committee.

  The main item for decision was the Total Allowable Catches (TACs) for European Union fish stocks. The Commission proposed substantial cuts to the TACs for several whitefish stocks, based on scientific advice.

  After difficult negotiations, I believe we have achieved a fair deal for Scotland. The Scottish industry is to be commended for its positive attitude towards conservation measures and its willingness to engage constructively in discussions with the Scottish Executive. This helped to provide us with a clear set of negotiating objectives which were broadly achieved.

  In the North Sea our top priority was to secure an increased allocation of haddock by the invocation of the Hague preference, a mechanism which provides the UK with extra quota from other Member States in circumstances where our initial allocation falls below prescribed thresholds. Use of this mechanism is unpopular with other Member States and we therefore use it with discretion. We pressed for and secured Hague preference on haddock, thus gaining an extra 7,000 tonnes of this stock; and we also secured gains in North Sea whiting and West of Scotland saithe and whiting.

  On the West Coast, we were concerned by the proposed cuts in the monkfish quota given the high value of this stock and we argued successfully for the cut to be restricted to 7%, whilst taking proper account of the scientific advice. We also fended off a proposed cut in the West of Scotland Nephrops TAC, a particularly important high value stock for fishermen in fragile rural communities on the West Coast.

  TACs for cod had to be substantially reduced, reflecting the very poor state of the stocks. The Scottish industry recognises the conservation case for those cuts.

  The package also contained a valuable extension, from end December to 15 February, to the flexibility period during which the pelagic fleet can fish in the North Sea against their Western mackerel quota.

  Overall these outcomes taken together with the recent successful negotiations with Norway on jointly managed North Sea stocks, will secure the economic prospects of the Scottish industry in the year ahead whilst ensuring sustainability of the stocks for the longer term.

  I am placing the detailed figures in the SPICe.

  The Council also discussed enforcement of fisheries in the North East Atlantic waters; future arrangements for regional discussions involving fishermen, scientists and managers; and technical conservation measures including general closures of the industrial sandeel fishery of the East Coast off Scotland in the interests of fishery and wider conservation objectives.

Health

Mr Kenneth Gibson (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many people in Scotland it estimates are at risk from cold-related illness this winter.

Mr Kenneth Gibson (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many excess winter deaths in Scotland it estimates there will be from cold-related illnesses this winter.

Mr Kenneth Gibson (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what is the estimated cost to the NHS this year of treating cold-related illnesses.

Mr Kenneth Gibson (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what is the estimated cost of ending excess winter deaths in Scotland.

Mr Kenneth Gibson (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what proportion of people who died from cold-related illnesses in the last years for which figures are available were males over 65 and females over 60.

Susan Deacon: There is no recognised and quantifiable grouping or selection of cold-related illnesses. Many illnesses, including illnesses such as coronary heart disease, may be exacerbated by cold conditions, but it is impossible to say in what proportion of these cold had an impact on the final outcome. There are therefore no figures collected centrally which would provide a simple count of those who may die of cold-related illness, or on which basis any estimates of risk of illness or death, or subsequent cost to the NHS could reliably be calculated.

  Whatever the issues surrounding such calculation, it is clear that cold can exacerbate poor health and that many people on low incomes can have difficulty in heating their homes adequately. In order to address this issue, a new grant scheme, called the Warm Deal, was introduced in Scotland on 1 July this year. The purpose of the scheme is to provide a package of home insulation measures up to a value of £500 for low income families. The Warm Deal can lead to savings on current fuel bills of up to £170. People can reinvest this amount to provide the extra warmth they need when they need it.

  The UK government has also taken a number of other measures to address these issues.

Health

Helen Eadie (Dunfermline East) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive when the advice from the Statutory Advisory Committees on the implications of the report on organophosphates by the Committee on Toxicity will be published.

Susan Deacon: The advice which we received from the Veterinary Products Committee (VPC), the Advisory Committee on Pesticides (ACP) and the Committee on Safety of Medicines (CSM) on the regulatory implications of the report on organophosphates (OPs) by the Committee on Toxicity (COT), will be published today.

  Publication of this advice, and our conclusions on it, marks the end of a key stage in the process of a full and transparent scrutiny of OPs.

  The regulatory committees all take note from the COT report that while ill-health effects from prolonged low-level exposure to OPs remain unproven, there remains a question over whether there may be a small group of individuals particularly susceptible to OPs. They endorse the need for further research on this and the other areas of uncertainty identified by COT.

  On the basis of current scientific knowledge, the regulatory committees’ advise against any general withdrawal of OPs from the market. However, the VPC has advised that all OP sheep dips should be withdrawn from the market pending the introduction of new containers which would minimise operator exposure to concentrated dip.

  The committees’ advice shall be implemented on the following basis.

  First, immediate action is being taken on OP sheep dip concentrate containers. The Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD) are writing to all holders of marketing authorisations for OP sheep dips requiring the withdrawal of these products from the market until containers are introduced which will minimise operator exposure to OP concentrate. Product recall from distributors and farms will also be implemented. Additionally, the Pesticides Safety Directorate (PSD) is taking urgent action to confirm that all containers of OP pesticide concentrates comply with modern standards; and PSD will take regulatory action if they do not.

  Second, there will be a targeted research programme to take forward the research recommendations from COT and the regulatory committees. This will involve expertise from the wider scientific community in this process, and there will be a seminar in the New Year to determine the scientific input and approaches required to meet these defined research needs. A proposal to investigate databases of putative OP sufferers is also under consideration.

  Third, measures will be implemented, aimed at continuing to promote best practice, through a range of measures, including further improvements to labelling to highlight necessary precautions; a continuing programme of targeted inspections by HSE inspectors to reinforce advice on risk control and training and competence for sheep dippers; and supply of protective gloves with sheep dip. There will also be improved guidance and training on pesticide usage.

  Fourth, the specification for the data packages for OP compounds shall enable full evaluations in line with modern safety standards through the continuing reviews of OP veterinary medicines other than sheep dips and of pesticides. In this regard, ACP has recommended that regulatory action should be taken against approvals for products containing three OP compounds for which supporting data have not been submitted under the anticholinesterase review. Revocations of the approvals are being sent immediately to approval holders.